Device for automatic mooring and depthtaking under water of buoys, mines, and other apparatus



E. OLMO 1,910,993:- DEVICE FOR AUTOMATIC MOORING AND DEPTHTAKING UNDERMay 23 was.

WATER OF BUOYS, MINES, AND OTHER APPARATUS Filed April 2, 1932 2Sheets-Sheet 1 aw; E

ENRICO OLMO INVENTOR BY g 4 ATTORNEYS E. OLMO May 23 DEVICE FORAUTOMATIC MOORING AND DEPTHTAKING UNDER WATER 0F BUOYS, MINES AND OTHERAPPARATUS Filed April 2, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ENRICO OLM O INVIENTORWilli/40963.,

ATTORNEYS Patented May 23, 1933 NrrED STATES DEVICE FGR AUTOMATICnoo'n'me AND DEPTHTAKING 'UNDER MINE-s, AND OTHER AZPPARATUS PATENT"OFFICE! ENRICO-VOLMO' OF MILAN ITdLY- ASSIGNOR T UIDO sAnTAGQS No, orMIIiAN, t.

I r ITALY. 1

WATER or "3116x511 Application 'filed A ril 2, 1932, Serial No. eoaesaana in Italy April e7, 1931. f r

The present invention relates-to improvements in devices for theautomatic mooring and depthtaking under water level of buoys,

mines and other apparatus." 5 The main object of my inventionis toprovide an apparatusof the character indicated which is unusuallypractical, shock proof and safe, and also has alarge capacity forsounding cable by virtue of a stationary bobbin, and is further providedwith efiicient means for controlling and braking the cableduring-sounding and deptht'aking, with the result that the apparatus isconvenient, safe and compact asa whole. e

Other objects and the various advantageous features inherent in thenovel structure and arrangement of my invention will appear more fullyindetail as this specification proceeds.

The accompanying drawings illustrate,

merely by way of example, an execution form ofthe invention.

Fig. 1 isa vertical axial section. Fig. 2 is a detail plan view. Theapparatus works on the plummet system of many self-"anchoring mines andbuoys already in use. The same comprises four main parts, whicharehaving a strong positiveupward thrust or buoyancy when immersed andwhich, when used as a mine is provided With explosive charges,detonatorsand firing gears and with all other parts,formingthe-equipment of a mine. In the following, we shall call the bodyVt by the term of mine.

The anchor or sinker .a is intended to v The body 't,consisting inatight casing its travel towards the Plummt y means of at 'rbpef.th'elngth E i of which is adjustable. I The anchorl contains;

a drum from whi'ch, according as the anchor sinks, the main rope forconnection with mines heretofore constructed the drum contained in theanchor and on which the rope is wound must revolve aboutits'axis inorder to allow of the ro'peto unwind itself accordmg as the anchorsinks. In'the present invention; on the contrary", a device is-mount'edon the anchor, which permits/of using a rope drum which is stationaryrelatively to the anchor. More precisely,ithe bobbin. supplied with therope, and havinga vertical axis, is mounted on fthe" sinker bottom..Above theupper head of'th'e drum, a cross bar? trjis arranged; which"can revolve about the" axis of the saiddrum and carries a sheave m atoneof its ends. I V Y i This sheave has its groove very'deepland" flared,and has its axis suitably inclined to Q the vertical.- The outenend ofthe, rope mountedon the hobbini s passed over the. sheave ca and then.over a second sheave or arranged in thec'enter portion of the crossbarj so as to convey the rope upwardly and be at tached tothe mine 'tDuring the anchor-sinking operations, the

mine twhich has remained afloat exerts J which the sheave cw 'candescribe around the I bobbin, causes the; cross bar tr, as long asthelatter isfree, torevolve thus allowing the bobbin to let out ropewound'thereon in the iamount required to permit the sinking of theanchor.

The starting of the unwinding of the rope can be prevented, and theunwinding can be stopped as well as at any desired moment, in two ways:First, bygriping with a suitable brake attached atthe anchor body, therope f as it is being let out. The second manner of stopping theunwinding of the rope, which is the method illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, consists in looking the crossbar tr carrying thesheave 0a. This can easily be performed by means of a claw clutch, or afriction clutch, or a Combination of afriction clutch anda claw clutchacting at suitable points of the cross bar. The friction or claw clutchmay act on the rotation centre as indicated on thedrawing, or it mayactat the two ends of the cross bar and clamp the bar by means ofsuitable friction slides ()1'.Cl3.WS agamst the anchor rimin front ofmet by means of suitable devices. One of the arrangements that maybeadopted is illustrated by way of examplein the accompanying figures. Theplummet rests on the cover. 00 until after the launch of the complex andtill the moment when the plummet must start working, which cover closesthe opening in which the plummet is lodged, so that its weight cannottension the rope which, leading from the plummet passes over the tackleb0 and extends to a suitable point of attache ment on the anchor body.The overlying spring on acting on the body of the clutch (which latter,below, is connected to the tackle by a bolt) as long as the rope,passing over the tackle 60, is not weighted by the plummet, is adaptedto bringthe clutch i into engagement with the piece -pof the cross bar.This prevents the rotation of the cross bar which normally entrains intoits rotation the device i, whereas the latter cannot rotate when blockedby a small bar 86 the ends of which abut against the sides of groovesformed in the cylinder ior the purposeof accommodating the ends of thebar s1). When the plummet, the shape of which is suitably designed so asto have a proper water-penetration power, after leaving its lodgingremains hanging on the sinker, and the rope fa thus acting on the tackle"overcomes theresistance of the spring -m-,

lowers the member of the clutch and allows the rotation of the cross barand consequently the unwinding of the rope and the sinking of theanchor. As soon as the plumsired depth under the water surface.

issuing from its lodging prematurely.

opposing force being now opposed to it, will again bring the clutch -iinto engagement with the cross bar; in this manner the cross bar will belocked and the unwinding of the rope stopped. The mine will now'sink tothe depth required to allow the sinker -a to rest on the ground, thuscompleting the operation of mooring the'mine -'zat'th'e' de- In order toensure the propelwworking of the combination it is necessary to makeprovisions against all possibilities of the plummet To this effect theretaining cover is hinged and held in place by a safety lock which isnot removed till the moment when the launching is to be performed. Afterlaunching, the opening of the retaining cover 'is brought about by theplummet weighing on the cover, butonlyafter a suitabledelay, because thecover 00, in order to open itself, must overcome the resistance of oneof the usual glycerine dashpots.

After the cover has been opened, the plummet will freely slip intothewater and im mediately sink the free length of the rope retaining theplummet. This free length is adjustable in order to obtain thedepthtaking of the body -t at various depths under the water surface. Tothis effect, as shown on the drawings, the rope ft is passed over aseries of fixed retaining pegs 07 and over a series of movable retainingpegs rm. By extracting, from outside the anchor and prior to thelaunching, the first of the pegs rmtwo rope lengths leading further pegsrm, an ever increasing length of the rope f8 will be released. i I vShould a better regulation be desired than is thus obtainable, the endof the rope f8 may be wound on a drum ts: for example, by manipulationof suitable holding means, from outside the anchor casing, the unwindingof a greater or smaller length of the rope fa from the said drum willberendered possible, in addition to the amount of free rope 7's obtainedfrom the manipulation of the abovementio-ned movable pegs. In order toensure the connectionof the body --t to the anchor a up to the momentwhen the anchor is about to sink,-so as to ensure also means of asuitable wrench across a slot formed in the side of the anchor casing.The

lockingof the cross bar 251 prevents the unwinding of the rope, and ifthe rope end secured to the mine has beenmade taut by means of the nutcZ-, the mine 2f will remain firmly connected to the anchor a. For theconnection of the mine t to the anchor a it is also practicable to adoptother special contrivances adapted to be automatically disconnected assoon as the plummet has drawn the rope fs taut.

The device accordingly adapted to the present invention by the unwindingof the rope f imparts to the rope a twist turn for each rope turnunwinding from the bobbin; this twisting, according to the revolvingdirection of the cross bar and according to the twist of rope strands,can either add itself to or subtract itself from the ropes own twist,the tendency of the rope to untwist being thus increased or diminished.

Taking into due account this tendency as well as the auxiliary twistscaused by unwinding, suitable blades pa; are provided,

according to the invention, on the outer surface of the anchor casing,the blades being generally arranged like the blades of a pro-.

peller in order to impart to the anchor body, during its sinking, such arotating movement as will neutralize the untwisting tendency of theropeitself. The cross bar M, in its revolving motion in the water,encounters a certain amount of resistance. According to the presentinvention, this resistance can be suitably adjusted by giving to thecross bar a suitable shape, generally similar to that of a propeller, inorder to obtain a useful even braking action.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my saidinvention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare thatwhat I claim is 1- 1. Device for automatically mooring subaqueous buoysand mines, including the combination, with a hollow anchor, of aremovable bobbin adapted to be placed in a fixed position within saidhollow anchor, with its axis vertically disposed therein, and providedwith a mooring cable which is wound upon said bobbin, a cross barprovided with return sheaves for said cable rotatable above said bobbinabout the vertical axis of the same in order to unwind said cable fromsaid bobbin while the latter remains stationary with respect to saidanchor, a braking device in said anchor adapted to check rotation ofsaid crossbar and the unwinding of said cable, and a plummet in saidanchor associated with said braking device suspended on a plummet lineand adapted to be let out a lim ited distance from the anchor andsimultaneously prevent said braking device from.

v and adapted to slack the plummet line upon contact of the plummet withthe bottom and thereby allow the braking device to freely operate tocheck rotation of said crossbar and prevent further paying out of themooring cable for said stationary bobbin.

2. Device according to claim 1 wherein the hollow anchor primarilyconsists of a casing provided with exterior ribs serving as the bladesof a screw adapted to impart rotation to the anchor as a whole in orderto twist or untwist the mooring cable as desired, while it 1s beingunwound from the bobbin within the anchor.

3. Device according to claim 1 wherein the crossbar has a balanced andsymmetrical form in order to rotate smoothly and avoid vibration of theanchor.

Device according to claim 1 wherein the crossbar is provided with bladesadapted to provide a braking effect on the rotation of the crossbar onthe water.

5. Device according to claim 1 wherein the braking device in the anchoris shiftable from one position in which it blocks rotation of thecrossbar, by the eii'ect of the weight of the plummet, to anotherposition in which'it releases said crossbar for free rotation thereof,the contact of the plummet with the ocean floorremoving the effect ofits weight upon the braking device, whereupon the latteris adapted toautomatically return to the position in which it blocks rotation of thecrossbar.

6. Device according to claim 1 wherein the braking device is normallyretained by a spring in raised position wherein it engages a portion ofsaid crossbar and blocks rotation of the latter while free from theeffect of the weight of the plummet, and when the plummet is being letdown from the anchor, the weight of the same elfects neutralization ofsaid spring with a limited lowering of said March 1932.

. ENRICO OLMO.

